


Miami to Kentucky

by cmk418



Category: Justified
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-12
Updated: 2011-02-12
Packaged: 2017-10-31 08:58:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/342244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmk418/pseuds/cmk418
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raylan's thoughts on the trip back from Miami</p>
            </blockquote>





	Miami to Kentucky

First time posting here.

Title: Miami to Kentucky  
Rating: PG  
Warnings: Slash - past Raylan/Art implied (non-explicit), spoilers for 2.01 "The Moonshine War" and 1.01 "Fire in the Hole"  
Summary: Raylan's thoughts on the trip back from Miami

_Art didn’t want him around._

The thought accompanied him all the way back to the hotel.

His daddy may have been a bastard. He might have acted in a way that warranted being shot – several times, in fact – but Arlo was predictable. And Raylan always knew where he stood with the man who’d given him life.

There wasn’t this underhanded crap. This sneaking around, Art playing a game called Pass-the-Givens with Dan Grant.

Truth be told, it stung a bit.

Everything they’ve been through this past year…hell, everything they’d been through before should have allowed him a little advanced warning that Art was thinking about a change.

_There was the drunk phone call the night he offed Tommy Bucks._

_“Hey, Art.”_

_“Raylan?”_

_“How are you?”_

_“I’m… why are you calling me?”_

_“You still teaching at Glynco?”_

_“No. Actually, I’m running things in your old stomping ground.”_

_“Christ.”_

_“Are you in some kind of trouble?”_

_“No, no. It’s… look, I’m sure it’ll be okay. I’m ‘bout two-and-a-half sheets to the wind now. Not thinking clearly. Sorry if I woke you.”_

_“It’s eight o’clock, Raylan.”_

_“G’night.”_

It didn’t take a team of experts to figure out that Art had made a phone call or two and that whole story about needing some help around the office was more or less complete bullshit.

He didn’t know if it was a result of the boss-employee relationship or if Art had really changed since Glynco. There was a distance there that hadn’t been present before. And once he added Ava and Winona into the mix, that distance was even greater.

He didn’t look at Art as a substitute father. No point in that with Arlo asserting his presence just enough to be annoying. He wasn’t exactly a colleague or a business associate. Those titles were for assholes with desk jobs that needed to feel important. A mentor, perhaps, but Raylan had moved so far off-course that he thought Art would deny that role instantly. A friend. That was closer to the truth, but still a bit off. Did friends ship each other off without a word? That’s something that a girl that didn’t want to see you anymore would do.

Raylan chuckled softly to himself. Art as ex-girlfriend.

A phrase closer to the truth than either of them dared to admit. It was just a moment. Well, a series of them actually, starting after the Super Bowl party had let out when they were still teaching at Glynco.

_Too much to drink. Eye contact that went on far longer than advisable. A slight lean towards the other and then the briefest touch of lips. Which turned into a second touch. And a third. And…_

Raylan shook the memory off. He was heading home. Where he belonged.

He’d sleep for a while and work on changing Art’s mind in the morning.  



End file.
